2026 Victorian Election Platform

About Disability Advocacy Victoria

Disability Advocacy Victoria (DAV) is the peak body for independent disability advocacy in Victoria. We represent a coalition of independent, community-based organisations that advocate with and for people with disability across the state.

Our vision is an inclusive society that values people with disability. We work to ensure the voices of people with disability, and the organisations that advocate alongside them, are heard in government policy and decision-making.

With the Victorian state election on 28 November 2026, DAV calls on all candidates and parties to commit to the asks in this platform. These asks have been developed in consultation with our member organisations including Disabled People’s Organisations.

Independent disability advocacy is a critical safeguard for the rights of people with disability. Advocates support people to navigate complex systems, understand and enforce their rights, and have their voices heard. Yet the sector operates under chronically inadequate, short-term funding arrangements that undermine its capacity and sustainability.

DAV calls on the next Victorian Government to make the following commitments.

Ask 1: Long-term, stable and adequate funding for disability advocacy

The next Victorian Government must commit to multi-year, secure funding for the independent disability advocacy sector commensurate with recommendations 6.21 of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Disability Royal Commission / DRC).

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR:

• Funding agreements of no less than five years to provide organisational stability and enable workforce planning
• Funding levels that meet actual community needs, reflecting the volume and complexity of demand for advocacy services
• Indexation that covers compliance costs, award wage increases, and cost-of-living pressures
• A transparent and independent funding review process, co-designed with the sector

WHY IT MATTERS:

Disability advocacy organisations are frequently the only resource available to people with disability when their rights are at risk. Short-term, inadequate funding creates staff turnover, service gaps, and prevents proactive, systemic advocacy. The DRC was unequivocal: governments must fund advocacy as a permanent, essential service, not a discretionary program.

PART TWO: Asks for the Disability Community

Ask 2: NDIS and Foundational Supports

On 14 August 2026, the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee recommended that the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 be passed, despite more than 4,500 submissions and six days of public hearings in which people with disability, Disabled People’s Organisations, advocacy groups, human rights experts, lawyers and health professionals overwhelmingly opposed the Bill. The Australian Greens and Senator David Pocock tabled dissenting reports recommending the Bill not proceed.

The Commonwealth’s own modelling indicates that around 240,000 existing participants will leave the NDIS by 2031, with a further 110,000 people diverted from entering, to slow Scheme spending growth by $37.8 billion. Those Victorians are being asked to rely on foundational supports that do not yet exist. State and territory disability ministers told the Senate inquiry they were not yet in a position to deliver them. Victoria has signed a bilateral agreement worth $2.4 billion, but has published no detail of what it will fund, or when. Whoever forms government after 28 November will carry the responsibility and consequences.

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR:

• A sequencing guarantee: no Victorian loses NDIS supports until equivalent foundational supports are actually up and running, and the next Victorian Government must push that line vigorously at the Disability Reform Ministerial Council and National Cabinet.
• Continuity of support: a proper safety net for people who exit or cannot get into the Scheme, with named responsibilities across state systems. Cutting NDIS spending without alternatives in place is not saving money, it is shifting the cost elsewhere, for instance to the health, mental health, justice and education systems.
• Transparency: publish the bilateral agreement in full and in accessible formats, with a timeline and a breakdown of where the $2.4 billion earmarked for Foundational Supports is going. The most recent Victorian budget papers provided nothing on this.
• Genuine co-design: people with disability and their representative organisations in the room for design and governance, consistent with CRPD obligations.
• Foundational supports done properly: both the general tier (information, navigation, peer support, advocacy and capacity building) and targeted supports are to be delivered through Disabled People’s Organisations, advocacy organisations and Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCO), not simply handed to the big NDIS providers, service providers or local councils. A clear interface with Victoria’s mental health reforms for people with psychosocial disability outside the Scheme is needed.
• Thriving Kids ready on day one: workforce, regional coverage and culturally safe ACCO options in place from 1 October 2026, and no child left in a gap between leaving the NDIS and services being available.
• Accountability: annual public reporting to Parliament on the rollout of Foundational Supports, spending, unmet need and outcomes, against indicators co-designed with people with disability.

WHY IT MATTERS:

The vote on the NDIS Bill passed in August 2026. Implementation begins in stages from late 2026, with most changes reaching participants as plans are reassessed. The inquiry itself acknowledged community concern about standardised functional capacity assessments and tightened access definitions. When people lose NDIS supports without alternatives in place, the need does not disappear, it lands on Victorian health, education, housing, child protection and justice systems, and on people with disability, their families and carers. Victoria must not wait for the gaps to appear before acting.

Ask 3: Commit to a Disability Royal Commission implementation plan

The Disability Royal Commission (DRC) delivered its final report in September 2023 with 222 recommendations. Victoria’s response has been slow, partial, and in key areas, non-existent. People with disability in Victoria continue to face rights violations, exclusion and harm in areas where the DRC was clear that governments must act. The next Victorian Government must treat the unfinished business of the DRC as a priority, not an afterthought.

The next Victorian Government must commit to meaningful, time-bound engagement with people with disability on the DRC recommendations that remain unaddressed at the state level.

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR:

• A formal commitment to engage with representatives of Disabled People’s Organisations Victoria (DPOV) and disability advocacy organisations within the first 100 days of government
• This engagement to be focused specifically on DRC recommendations that the Victorian Government has so far ignored, deferred or provided only vague commitments to “consider further”
• The outcome of this process to be a co-designed, publicly released implementation plan with clear timelines and accountability mechanisms

PRIORITY AREAS FOR IMPLEMENTATION:

DAV identifies the following as the critical unresolved areas requiring immediate government commitment:

Restraint and Seclusion: End the use of restrictive practices against people with disability in all settings, in line with DRC recommendations.

Communication Rights: Recognise and resource the right of all people with disability to communicate in the way that works for them, with appropriate supports.

Disability Standards of Engagement: Endorse and implement the disability standards of engagement as the framework for how government consults with people with disability.

Right to Education: Implement the DRC’s recommendations on inclusive education, including addressing disproportionate exclusion and suspension of students with disability.

Reform guardianship and decision-making legislation:

The DRC recommended significant reform to guardianship and administration frameworks across Australia, to better reflect the principle of supported decision-making and the right of people with disability to exercise legal capacity.

Roadmap to phase out congregate living: The DRC recommended a 15-year roadmap to phase out congregate residential settings (institutions, group homes and supported residential services) and transition to person-centred, inclusive housing and support options. Victoria has made no meaningful commitment on this recommendation.

Ask 4: Establish a specialist disability complaints and regulation body

People with disability and their advocates currently face a fragmented, confusing landscape of complaints and regulatory bodies. The proposed transfer of disability-specific regulatory functions to the generic Social Services Regulator risks diluting disability expertise and weakening protections for people with disability.

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR:

• A commitment to establish, through a co-design process, a fit-for-purpose, disability led, specialist disability complaints and regulation body in Victoria
• This body to merge the functions of the Disability Services Commissioner (DSC), the Victorian Disability Workers Commission (VDWC), and disability-related functions of the Social Services Regulator
• The body to cover all state-funded, licensed, and regulated disability supports, including DFFH-funded and TAC-funded services, not just NDIS-regulated providers
• Potential for the body to assist the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission in exercising its functions in Victoria, reducing gaps and duplication
• The body to have genuine regulatory independence, specialist disability expertise, and the capacity to conduct both individual complaint resolution and own motion systemic investigations

WHY IT MATTERS:

A specialist regulator sends a clear signal that protecting the rights of people with disability is a serious, ongoing responsibility of the Victorian Government, not a function to be absorbed into a generic social services framework. Recent issues at facilities like Greenslopes Supported Residential Service have highlighted that current arrangements leave significant gaps, particularly for people in state-licensed disability accommodation outside the NDIS.

Our Call to Action

DAV calls on all parties and candidates contesting the 28 November 2026 Victorian state election to respond publicly to this platform, committing to each of these asks, or explaining their position.

People with disability are voters. Their families, friends and allies are voters.

We will be watching, and we will hold the incoming government to account. 

To discuss this platform, arrange a briefing, or submit your party's response contact DAV at admin@disabilityadvocacyvic.org.au